1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to determining the flight parameters of a flying object such as a golf ball, tennis ball or baseball and, more particularly, to a sports trainer and simulator for indoor simulation of an athletic activity with real time presentation and display of the simulated activity, especially for entertainment purposes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Players interested in improving or enjoying their performance in an athletic activity use indoor simulators for collecting data, such as the flight parameters of a flying object, and for processing and displaying the processed data on a visual display that simulates, among other things, the flight of the object, especially from the viewpoint of the player.
The field of sports simulation, especially golf, is exemplified by the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 2,102,166; 3,072,410; 4,136,387; 4,160,942; 5,160,839; 5,333,874; 5,413,345; 5,479,008; 5,481,355; 5,501,463; 5,575,719; 5,614,942; and 5,626,526.
As advantageous as some of these sports simulators are in improving the performance and enjoyment of a player, experience has shown that a more realistic and more accurate simulation is needed. Delays and inaccuracies in collecting and processing the flight parameter data contribute to increased player frustration and erroneous data determination.